Remember that Chuck only has Intersect 1.0, Bryce is not dead, Chuck isn't with Sarah, and none of his friends knows about Chuck being the Intersect. I hope I can get these out in a reasonable time frame because Halo Reach has me hooked right now. I'll do my best.
I do not own Chuck.
/
Chuck turns his alarm clock off and stares at the picture of him and Sarah lovingly for a few seconds before caressing it and heads to the bathroom to brush his teeth. After, he walks to the kitchen and grabs the box of cereal and some milk. He pours a bowl with both and then puts them back. He sits at the table and looks at the schedule.
"Where do you think we're gonna go today?" He asks after a bite of cereal.
"I don't know," he answers indecisively, "I'm still hoping for Paris."
"That would be great, but I still hope the first time I see the Eiffel Tower is with Sarah," he takes another bite of cereal.
"Yea," he sounds ecstatic, "that would be awesome." He finishes his cereal in quiet while seeing the light schedule he has.
He cleans the bowl and heads to the weight lifting room. After just over an hour of working out, he steps into the shower. After a few minutes, he climbs out and dries off. He puts on some casual clothes because he doesn't have any meetings today. He powers up his computer.
"I wonder if I have any emails."
"I'm sure you do," he assures himself. "You're a popular guy."
"I know," he says under his breath with a smirk on. He checks the inbox and there are four new messages. The first one is about his Xbox live account. He skims it over and deletes it. The next message is from his good friend Arthur. Chuck smiles as he reads it. It has a bunch of pictures of people doing stupid things. He laughs as he starts to type a reply.
That was just ridiculous. I could totally see you doing that last one. Hahahaha! How's everything going? I haven't seen you in a while.
Chuck sends the reply thinking about the pictures. Chuck met Arthur the fourth day he got into the bunker. He loves all the same nerdy stuff as Chuck. They hit it off immediately and have kept in touch with video chats and emails for the last year.
"It was good to hear from him," he comments contently.
"Yea," he agrees, "we haven't seen him in weeks."
"Good times, good times," he smiles as the last two emails are insignificant. He decides to watch TV. He sits on the couch and turns the TV on.
"I wonder what's on."
"Check the movie channels," he happily suggests, "there's always something on them.
"Good idea," he flips through the channels, looking for something interesting.
"Wait! Go back!" He flips the channel back down and Terminator 2 is on.
"Great movie," he comments under his breath.
"Yea…"
He spends the next hour watching the movie until it is time for lunch. He walks over to the kitchen and pulls out sandwich rolls.
"Sandwiches again?" He asks, annoyed.
"Why not?"
"We always have that," he makes his ultimatum.
"Fine, fine," he gives in, "what do you want?"
"How about a burger?"
"Sounds good," he puts the rolls back and pulls out the frozen burgers. As he pulls out the condiments out, the burger finishes cooking on the state-of-the-art Foreman grill. He checks the burger and realizes it is about medium-rare and he feels contented.
"Don't forget the extra pickles," he reminds himself.
"Come on, it's me," he says in an obvious tone as he layers the burger think with pickles. He sits at the table and eats the burger.
After he finishes, he hurriedly cleans the plate off and heads for the virtual room. He has been awaiting this all day. It is by far his favorite part of the day.
/
Sarah Walker is not someone who makes many promises. Her job doesn't give her the liberty to carry them out easily. But when she makes a promise, she damn well keeps her word. She walks through the hallways of an underground NSA base. This is the third one she has been to. She looks just as beautiful as before with her angelic, golden, wavy hair that rests on her shoulders comfortably. She looks determined with a cause and will not let anything get in her way. She scans her I.D. badge and walks through a door. There is a receptionist sitting at her desk. Sarah steps up to the desk.
"I'm looking for a Charles Irving Bartowski," her voice is serious and resolute.
"Do you have an appointment?" The receptionist asks with a tinge of annoyance in her voice. Sarah detects it and gives her a stare that can kill.
"Is he in this facility?" She asks in a low voice through clenched teeth as she leans forward.
"I cannot release the information," the receptionist responds.
"I have authorization. Just tell me if he is here!" She growls. Her patience is wearing thin and she is feeling the urge to threaten the receptionist with a knife.
"I will need to get confirmation from my superiors," the receptionist explains a little frightful. "Let me get your name and you can take a seat there." She points to a row of chairs.
"Sarah Walker," she stifles her anger through gritted teeth as she reluctantly sits in one of the chairs.
She waits impatiently twitching her leg and watching the receptionist closely. After a few minutes, the receptionist calls Sarah over.
"Follow me, Agent Walker," The receptionist stands up and leads Sarah through a door and down a hallway. They stop at a door. "This is the operating room of Mr. Bartowski," she opens the door and leads Sarah in. It is a fairly small room with two technicians sitting at computers and one doctor monitoring Chuck on the cameras. Everyone turns to look at the intrusion of Sarah and the receptionist. They all look at Sarah in awe.
"This is Agent—" The receptionist is cut off.
"Walker, Sarah Walker," one of the technicians answers. Sarah is not sure how to react as the receptionist leaves them.
"The infamous Sarah Walker," the other technician happily says, "we've heard so much about you."
"How?" Sarah asks, clearly confused.
"You're all Chuck talks about," the doctor speaks up. "You're definitely more beautiful than he describes," he tries to illicit a friendship with Sarah. She isn't having any of it and just stares at him through narrow eyes. He gulps and shuts his mouth and turns back to the monitors.
"He's heading to the virtual room," one of the technicians states. "Where should he go today?"
"I think it's time for Paris," the other technician answers reassuringly.
"Really?"
"It's only fair now that Sarah's here."
"You're right," the technician uploads the images with a smirk on his face and sends them to the virtual room that Chuck just stepped into. Sarah is totally lost on what is going on. She watches closely as the quirky technicians converse with each other.
"Agent Walker?" the doctor grabs her attention. She walks over to him. The screen before them has Chuck standing in the middle of the room. "This is Chuck's favorite part of the day." Sarah watches closely as all the walls around Chuck light up to reveal Paris, France.
She studies him closely as the look on his face is full of happiness and delight. Tears of joy start to form under his eyes.
"We're finally in Paris," Chuck barely speaks out in so much awe.
"I know. They finally answered our prayers," he says in the same amount of surprise as he spins around slowly, taking in the amazing sights.
"The… Eiffel… Tower," his arm trembles as he points to it with eyes widely open.
"This is so amazing!" he says in awe.
"I always thought the first time I went to the Eiffel Tower would be with Sarah," he says dejectedly.
Sarah is utterly heart-broken watching Chuck so foolishly brainwashed. She whispers to herself, "I am here, Chuck."
"It's still beautiful, though." Chuck says to himself.
"That it is," he whispers.
Sarah's sadness is turning to anger. "Why is he talking to himself like that?" She asks, emotionally scared of the answer.
"I believe it's a condition of being alone for so long," the doctor explains frivolously, "he has created two versions of himself to keep himself sane."
Sarah feels the pain in her gut as she just wants to break down. She whispers quietly to herself, "My sweet, innocent Chuck. What have they done to you?"
"What was that?" the doctor heard her inaudible plea.
"Can I see him?" Her voice quivers with pain and sorrow.
"I don't know if that is such a good idea," the doctor explains, seeing how hurt she is. "We don't know how he would react to seeing you after all this time."
"I don't care. I want to see him," she declares. The doctor looks hesitant.
"Just let her see him," one of the technicians comments. "Chuck's been waiting for her for about a year now."
"Alright," the doctor hesitantly agrees. "But, be careful," he declares with judgment. He steps up and takes Sarah to Chuck's door. The doctor lets her in and nods thankfully. Sarah nods back and scans the environment. It is bright with artificial light and it seems so depressing. The walls are made up of concrete that hasn't been painted and makes Sarah feel worse. She makes her way to the virtual room where Chuck is.
She steps in quietly and softly walks up to Chuck. Before she makes him aware of her presence, he starts talking again.
"I'm going to tell Sarah all about this when she comes back," he exclaims with tears of joy flowing down his face at the beauty before him.
"You don't have to," a small whisper startles Chuck. Sarah steps up and hugs his arm tightly as she lays her head on his shoulder kindly. He looks at her with shock. His eyes grow wider than she has ever seen before.
"SARAH!" He jumps with joy. "I knew you would come back for me!" He hugs her with all his emotion. She hugs him back, feeling mixed feelings of happiness and sadness.
"Look, we're in Paris!" He seems so happy that it makes Sarah feel worse. "It's the Eiffel Tower! I can finally say I've seen it!" She holds him tighter, not wanting to let go of him. She cries softly. Chuck notices and holds her in his embrace intimately. "What's wrong?" he asks with heart and the want to help in his voice.
"It's just so beautiful," she cries out in the lie. She is just devastated to see Chuck like this. She wants her wonderful, lovable, caring nerd back. She missed him so much and it just kills her to see him so happy in such a depressing situation. He doesn't even know how horrible it is. After a few minutes of Chuck holding Sarah gently, he musters up the courage to talk to her.
"So, how long can you stay?" He asks lovingly.
"As you long as you want," she whispers hoarsely.
"That's great!" He exclaims happily. She feels worse with every word Chuck speaks because he sounds so content with everything. "I want you to meet my friend Jake!" He leads her out of the room and to the debriefing room. The thought of Jake being imaginary crosses her mind and freaks the hell out of her. Chuck types on the computer and after a minute the screen turns on to show Agent Marston. Chuck steps back and comforts Sarah by rubbing her back in a friendly manner. Marston doesn't notice that Chuck was watching him and he is busy stacking papers.
Chuck clears his throat loudly and Marston looks up, startled. He cleans his glasses off and looks at the screen. When he sees Sarah with Chuck, he almost falls backwards. Chuck laughs, "You finally get to meet the famous Sarah Walker!"
"Uh," Marston is shocked. It is the last thing he would expect. "Hi, I'm Jake," his voice is quivering with shock. Sarah is just too shocked to say anything. She just stands there with Chuck's arm massaging her back. "You're more beautiful than Chuck described." Sarah could tell that Marston was shocked and genuinely happy. She could read that he actually cares about Chuck like a real friend. This makes her feel a little better as she slowly starts to smile.
"How's the baby situation going?" Chuck asks happily.
"Pretty good," Jake replies still in shock. "You pep-talk really helped."
Chuck laughs and whispers into Sarah's ear, "he wasn't sure if he was ready to have a child and I gave him some encouraging words." Sarah genuinely smiles for the first time since she let Chuck be taken away. She can tell the good, caring, loving Chuck is still in there.
"Well, I just had to show my best friend the greatest girl in the world," Chuck nervously laughs, "no offense to your wife."
"No problem," Jake says laughing along with Chuck. "It was great meeting you, Sarah. I'm sorry I couldn't be there in person. And nice seeing you too, Chuck. She is greater than you described."
"Thank you and it was nice meeting a real friend of Chuck," Sarah says putting a little emphasis on the word "real" to see how Jake would react. Jake barely flinched. It was so subtle, Chuck didn't notice but Sarah did.
"No problem," Jake happily responds, "he's always been there for me."
"Bye Jake," Chuck says with a smile on his face. Jake waves to both of them and the feed terminates.
"Isn't Jake a great guy?" Chuck asks Sarah.
"Yea, he's a true friend," she answers painfully but she hides under a smile.
"So, what do you wanna do?" Chuck asks harmlessly. Sarah is taken aback by this. She has no idea what here is to do in such a depressing place.
"Anything," she squeaks out croakily.
"How about some TV then?" He asks rhetorically as he takes her to the couch and lets her get comfortable. "I have one very serious question to ask you," he says determined. Sarah swallows fearfully. She thinks to herself that here comes the question of why it took me so long to find him. That or something about why I let them take him.
He turns around holding two DVD boxes cheerfully. "Star Wars or Star Trek?" He asks lightheartedly.
Sarah has to stifle a laugh but smiles greatly. There is the Chuck she loved, her Chuck. She points at Star Wars and Chuck immediately picks up on it. He puts the Star Trek box down and loads the DVD player with Star Wars.
"Always a good choice," he comments as he sits on the other side of the couch with a comfortable distance between him and Sarah if they were just friends. "Han Solo comes back and saves Luke's butt so he could destroy the Death Star." The movie starts as Sarah instantly notices the distance that Chuck gave between them. She is afraid to come on to strong and slowly leans towards him. After a few minutes, she finds herself almost pressed up against him.
She steals a glance at Chuck and he looks so content. Sarah feels so bad so she slides closer to him and soothes his cheek with her thumb. Chuck smiles and wraps his arm around her. She just wants to cry in his arms and tell him how much she missed him.
Thirty minutes pass of Sarah staying close to Chuck while he embraces her with one arm around her shoulders. "Chuck?" She asks, scared of what he will say to her next question.
"Yea?" He asks, sounding like there is nothing wrong.
"Do you like it here?" Her voice quivers with emotion.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you like living here?" Her voice is shaky.
"I guess," he muses. "I've never thought about it. I just treat it as home, you know?" She doesn't know. She has never been forcibly cooped up in a bunker without seeing the light of day. That painful feeling is creeping up again in her gut. "Oh, so is there a new president yet?" He jokingly asks.
"No," she whispers almost inaudibly remembering when he rambled about what they could do together on that fateful night. He chuckles and holds her tighter. She didn't know how much she missed his warmth until she finally got to feel it again. She snuggles a little tighter to him and softly wraps her arms around him. He inaudibly hums in contentment and just smiles his "Sarah" smile. She just melts at the sight of it and lets her body form to his comfortably.
They just sat there until the end of the movie, enjoying each other's presence. Chuck looks at the clock and realizes it is already dinner time.
"Are you hungry?" He asks harmlessly. Sarah just nods. He stands up, causing Sarah to feel cold and left alone. "What would you like?" He asks as he opens the freezer. Before she can answer, he speaks up. "Never mind; I think I know," he whimsically answers his own question. Sarah looks over the couch to see what he is going to make. "Vegetarian pizza," he smiles, "no olives. Sarah smiles as a way to show Chuck that she is contented with his choice. She walks up to him as he prepares it to place in the oven.
"Chuck?" She asks worriedly.
"Yea?" He turns around after placing the pizza in the oven.
"I missed you," she whimpers softly.
"I missed you too," he replies with way more happiness than her. She just can't take his cheery attitude when he is stuck in this depressing bunker.
"I need to go to the bathroom," she informs him as he points her in the direction. She walks in, closes the door, locks it, and breaks down in an onslaught of tears. She feels so horrible for what has happened to Chuck. He has always been in her mind, telling her she could do anything and now to see him so wrongfully happy. She hates herself for it.
"Sarah is so great, huh?" Chuck asks.
"Yea, but she seems a little depressed."
"I thought that too, but I think it's just she hasn't seen us in so long."
"You think she thinks of us as more than a friend?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, look at her. She is so beautiful and I think I love her."
"Why not try to tell her?"
"Are you kidding me? She is Sarah Walker! She would never be into a nerd like me," he says, feeling a little depressed. "I don't want to be embarrassed if I do something she doesn't like."
"Come on, moron—"
"You know I hate when you call me that. It reminds me of Casey."
"Well, you need to man up and just ask her if she feels the same way as you do."
"You're right. What's the worst that could happen?" As he says this, thousands of horrible situations go through his mind. He walks over to the bathroom to check on Sarah. Before he knocks, he could hear what sounds like crying.
"Is she crying?" he whispers.
"I think so," he whispers back.
"Why?"
"How the hell should I know?"
Chuck hesitantly knocks on the door. "Sarah?" He questions with care.
"Yea?" She sniffs and wipes her tears away.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she lies.
"I could tell there is something wrong. I can't help you if you don't let me in." He is met with complete silence and he is fearful of what is happening. This is the most eccentric situation he has dealt with since he's been in the bunker. The bathroom door unlocks and Chuck slowly opens the door. "Sarah?" He asks carefully. He sees her looking away, visibly shaking.
/
I hope you are enjoying this story. I don't think it will too much longer. Maybe three more chapters if I'm lucky. Well, please review so I feel like I am appreciated.